Improvement in direct-acting steam-engines



2 Sheets--Shaet1.

T. HANSON. Direct-Acting Steam-Engines.

No.148,052. V w PatentedMarch3,1874.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

THOMAS HANSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN DIRECT-ACTING STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 148,052, dated March 3, 1874; application filed August 24, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS HANSON, of

the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Direct-Acting Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings making part of this specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in that kind of direct-action steam-engines in which an auxiliary cylinder and piston are employed to operate the slide-valve of the motion of the main engine is imparted to the auxiliary engine has been arranged outside of the cylinder, necessitating the employment of one or more stuffing-boxes. I propose, by my invention, to simplify the construction of this kind of engines by the employment, in connection with the main and auxiliary cylinder and their pistons, of cylindrical valves or valve-pistons, arranged within the body of the engine, and acted upon directly by the piston of the main engine to move them in one direction, and directlyby the steam to move them in the other direction.

And my invention consists in the novel combination, hereinafter described, of such sliding valve-pistons with the main and auxiliary englues.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it more particularly, referring, by lot" ters, to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an end elevation of one of my improved engines. Fig. 2 isa vertical section at a: m, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section at 3/ y, Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section at z 2, Fig. 3.

In the several figures the same parts will be longitudinally in passages formed, as shown,

in the casting of the main cylinder. They work back and forth, in the manner and for purposes to be hereafter explained, and their outer U-shaped ends work in the housingsformed, as seenat K, in the heads of the main cylinder A. The slide-valve F is formed with a lug or projection at f, which extends up into a hole or slot formed in the body k of the piston H in such a manner that any movement longitudinally of said piston will induce to a similar movement of the said slide-valve. L M are the steam and exhaust ports of the auxiliary cylinder, and P is the nozzle or connection for the steam-supply pipe, and Q that for the exhaust-pipe.

The proper stuffing-boxes, &c., are provided to the piston-rods, and the application and general operation of the main engine are the same as usual.

I will now explain the operation together of the several parts already alluded to, and how the automatic working of the slide-valve directly from the main piston is efl'ected.

When steam is let on and enters one of the steam-ports of the main engine, it passes, inthe usual way, to one end of the cylinder A, and drives the piston B. As the latter nears the end of its stroke, it comes into contact with, and moves longitudinally, one of the valve pistons or plugs I, and as this plug is moved "along, into the position seen at Fig. 3, its annular groove 2' comes opposite the hole k, (which communicates with the interior of the main cylinder,) and also to the passage L, (which leads to the interior of the auxiliary cylinder,) and makes a complete connection, or passage of communication, between the two cylinders, so

2" meme that the steam which is driving the main pis-' ton can pass to one end of the auxiliary piston II. This inlet of the steam to the piston II, to operate it, occurs just as the main piston is about or near completing its stroke, and causes the piston H to move quickly in an opposite direction to that in which the main pistonis moving, and reverses the slide-valve, so as to change the movement of the main engine. The moment the main piston reverses its direction of motion, the valve piston or plug I moves back with it to its former position, thus bringing the exhaust-port M, which is located in the rear end of the valve-piston I, in communication with the steam-port L to permit the escape of the exhaust steam at that end of the auxiliary chamber G. This movement of said plug is caused by the pressure of the steam supplied to the main piston acting against the shoulder of the valve-piston at m. When the main piston approaches theend of its stroke in the opposite direction, a similar operation takes place at the other end of the cylinder with the other plug I, and the piston H is again moved, the slide-valve shifted, and the main piston again reversed, and so on.

It will be seen that in an engine constructed as mine is the cost of construction is little, and

there are no parts liable to get out of order,

the whole mechanism for letting the steam onto, or cutting it off from, the auxiliary cylinder consisting simply of the plugs I, formed with the passages shown, and working longitudinally in the holes in the casting, and all within the main engine.

It will be understood that my improved engine may be used with the same advantages when water, in lieu of steam, is employed as the motive power. It will, however, be found necessary, in the use of water, (which is nonelastic,) to make the slide-valve so short that it cannot, by any possibility, cover both induction-ports at the same time.

It will be understood also, that, by the arrangement of these plugs and their passages and the holes i in a certain manner, the engine may be made so as to out off at any desired point in the stroke.

Having explained the construction and operation of my improved engine, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In combination with the main and auxiliary engines, the sliding valve-pistons, constructed with passages, ports, and annular grooves, and the two cylinders provided with holes and pas sages, all substantially as described and represented.

- THOMAS HANSON. \Vitnesses WM. H. BISHOP, A. B. Brsnor. 

